TIJUANA  A seasoned arts advocate has been named to the top job at the Tijuana Cultural Center, the city’s dominant cultural venue and the largest such federally operated facility outside Mexico City.

Pedro Ochoa Palacio was appointed to the position by Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, head of Mexico’s National Council for Culture and the Arts, Conaculta. Part of his mandate is to strengthen the center’s ties with San Diego, Ochoa said in an interview this week.

The Tijuana-born Ochoa, 54, has spent the past 11 years as cultural attache at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego. He is expected to formally start his new job next week. This will be Ochoa’s second turn at the helm of the Cecut, which he headed from 1989 to 1994.

In the interim, “I never lost my connection to Tijuana’s artistic community,” Ochoa said.

While Tijuana’s artistic community has grown, and independent groups are playing a larger role, the Cecut nonetheless remains the city’s most powerful and best-funded cultural institution and a point of pride and identity for many residents.

In 2009, the nomination of the Cecut’s current director, Virgilio Muñoz, drew outcry from some artists and cultural activists who said Muñoz was not qualified for the prestigious position. By contrast, Ochoa’s appointment has drawn no public criticism.

Ochoa “is a good choice, since he has experience and knows very well the cultural and artistic traditions in Tijuana,” said René Peralta, a Tijuana architect who teaches at Woodbury University in San Diego.

Hugh Davies, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, said move is “a brilliant appointment for all of us in our binational region. Pedro Ochoa knows the art and culture of San Diego and Tijuana better than anyone.”